The present invention relates to a device for storing and retrieving articles in a shelf stack.
There is a known type of rotary multi-shelf article storage warehouse, in which a plurality of horizontally running track systems are provided spaced apart in the vertical direction, each comprising an outer rail and an inner rail on the same level, each of the outer rails being shaped as an oval, and each of the inner rails being located within its outer rail with corresponding points on the outer and inner rails being equidistant. The spacing between each contiguous pair of the track systems in the vertical direction is substantially equal. On each of the track systems there run a plurality of wheeled shelves, contiguous ones of which are linked one to the next by link means so as to form a train, each of said trains being driven along its track system by a train drive means. These wheeled shelves are adapted to carry articles, which may be containers adapted for carrying small objects or the like.
Such a rotary multi shelf type article storage warehouse is convenient for storing a multiplicity of small objects in an organized manner, but the problem has arisen that if the available space for such a warehouse is exploited as effectively as possible then the upper ones of the stacked shelves become rather inaccessible, and it is difficult to place articles on these upper shelves, and to retrieve said articles, easily.